Twenty teams (9 primary, 7 intermediate, and 4 secondary) battled it out on Sunday for the privilege of representing the Waikato Region at the National Schools’ Chess Competition in Palmerston North in September.

The intermediate division was won convincingly by Fairfield “1” on 19 points with Southwell “1” (14.5) and Fairfield “2” (11) taking silver and bronze.

The Secondary division was contested by two teams from St Pauls and Hamilton Boys High School. St Pauls “1” and HBHS “1” tied on 9.5 points apiece, and there was nothing to seperate the teams on tie break either. This lead to a “penalty shoot out” of sorts with the teams vying it out against each other in a deciding playoff with a resounding 4-0 win to HBHS “1” .

We wish all the teams success at the forthcoming national event. A complete crosstable is available here and these are some photos from the event.

**Entries are restricted to players under 1600 NZCF rapid rating as this is a Rookies event – which still includes 80% of rated chess players! **In case of tied scores a tiebreak count back will be used to allocate prizes. Only one prize per competitor **Age is based on the date of the tournament, not 1 Jan **Event will go ahead providing a minimum of 18 registrants indicate attendance

There are 10 contenders for the glory of Club Rapid Champion 2012. Round one is completed and the 25 + 5 tournament will run over the next four weeks. The crosstable is here. Next weeks draw will be:
Stefan — Michael
Benjamin — Richard
George — Craig
Murray — Ian
William — Hilton

The July NZCF ratings are out. Club members fared well: 9 made gains in their rapid rating (with 3 losing) and 6 made gains in their standard rating (with 2 losing).

The big winner was Michael Metham who improved his standard rating by 172 points. Other substantial gains went to Craig (+32 rapid), Stefan (+45 rapid) and Brett (+59 rapid). The club rating list has been updated, and the full NZCF list can be found here.

The Waikato Open is coming soon — register now for the opportunity to polish up your standard rating!!